Circle of Impact Resources

Circle of Impact Leadership GuidesThese conversational guides are tools for helping leaders and their teams think and communicate clearly about their work and the challenges of change in the 21st. Century.

Life-Work Transitions MaterialsChange is normal, disruptive and a mark of the transitional nature of life and work. These materials are designed to help bring clarity and direction to people and organizations in the midst of transition.

Lewis & Clark for the 21st Century blogA decade and a half ago, I became deeply interested in the Lewis & Clark Expedition (1803-1806). I saw in this story leadership lessons that I wanted to share with people, so that they too would travel the trail, and discover this great American story.

August 18, 2009

Quick Takes: How to Be a Smart Protégé

This Wall Street Journal article, How to Be a Smart Protégé, is an excellent quick guide to mentoring. The authors offer eight tips. My favorite is.

6. Make It Mutual.

Mentoring networks involve
shared learning between two people. Too many people enter the
relationships thinking of themselves as plebeian protégés who get
support. Savvys, on the other hand, realize they have something to
offer their mentors, too, and help them out whenever they can—which
gives the other person a deeper vested interest in them.

One Savvy, a technology consultant, describes how she fostered
relationships with three senior colleagues: "If I saw a senior
consultant who was swamped with something, and I realized that I didn't
necessarily have the computer intellect to be on his level there, but I
could type really fast and I could be creative and design the
presentation, and I could help with all the interviewing, I said as
much to him. I said to him, 'Listen, I'd like to help you out if you'd
like it.'"

Now, let me turn this on its head. As a guy in his mid-fifties, I make the assumption that I don't know anything. I seek out people in their twenties and thirties to learn new things.

The key for us seasoned veterans is to make learning mutual, not simply instructing the protégé.The benefits are beyond your imagining.